Srila Gurudeva: It is not written anywhere that Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave ‘goopi-bhava,’ telling anyone and everyone, “Now you are a goopi, and I am now giving you the eleven kinds of moods. Your name is Lalita, your birthplace is Varsana, you are married to such and such gopa, your dress is such and such, and you are palya-dasi from today onwards.” He never did this.
Can one who is simply engaged in the animalistic propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, and in the three W’s of wine, woman and wealth—can he give gopi-bhava? This sahajiyaism is the root of all evil. Gaudiya Vaisnavism begins from the origin: from Brahma to Narada, Vyasa, Sukadeva Gosvami, Madhvacarya and his parampara, and then to Madhavendra Puri, Isvara Puri, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Rupa-Sanatana, Jiva, Raghunatha, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, Narottama Thakura and Syamananda, and after that to Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. This is the line of our Gaudiya Guru-parampara.
Some people challenge Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, demanding, “Who was his Guru!?” Actually, he accepted Vipina Bihari Gosvami as his diksa-guru in the line of pancaratrika Guru-parampara, and he has written in his Sri Caitanya-caritamrta commentary that his siksa bhagavata-parampara Guru was Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja. Siksa-guru is not less than diksa-guru, and sometimes he may be more than diksa-guru. For example, we accept Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Radha-Krsna, and Rupa Gosvami as our siksa-gurus, as Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami accepted the Six Gosvamis as his siksa-gurus.
There should be no doubt in this connection, that sometimes the siksa-guru may be superior to the diksa-guru. For example, I have so much faith in my Gurudeva, but I know that Rupa Gosvami is the Guru of my Gurudeva. Similarly, although Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami is our jagad-guru, he personally considered Rupa Gosvami and Srimati Radhika to be his siksa-gurus. Bilvamangala Thakura has prayed in his book, Krsna-karnamrta:
cintamanir jayati somagirir gurur me
siksa-gurus ca bhagavan sikhi-pincha-maulih
yat-pada-kalpataru-pallava-sekharesu
lila-svayamvara-rasam labhate jayasrih
Sri Krsna Karnamrta 1-2
[All glories to Cintamani, and my initiating spiritual master, Somagiri. All glories to my instructing spiritual master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who wears peacock feathers in His crown. Under the shade of His lotus feet, which are like desire trees, JayaSri (Radharani) enjoys the transcendental mellow of an eternal consort.]
Bilvamangala Thakura states here that his siksa-guru is Krsna, Nanda-nandana Himself, with peacock feathers in His turban and a flute to His lips. Bilvamangala Thakura’s diksa-guru was Somagiri, but he gave more preference to his siksa-guru, Sri Krsna. He had faith in his diksa -guru, but at the same time he respected his siksa-guru as superior. We should not forget these truths.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on April 28th, 1998, France, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 27]